Landing and recovery of capsule-spacecraft, also known as a space capsule, at the termination of flight may be effected by various different landing and recovery systems designed to attenuate the landing loads upon impact. As examples, space capsules may utilize parachutes, landing thrusters, engines (e.g., retro-rockets), water landings or a combination thereof to effect landing and recovery operations. However, these methods have various disadvantages. As one example, landing thrusters or engines add significant additional weight and complexity to the spacecraft and present risks to the lives of the crew due to the additional failure modes of an actively controlled propulsion system and the hazardous propellant required to be used upon landing. As another example, parachute landings on water can result in high side loads from wave action and result in damage to the space capsule, which, along with salt water induced corrosion, may affect the ability to re-use the space capsule.
Accordingly, those skilled in the art continue with research and development efforts in the field of spacecraft landing and recovery systems.